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Released: 13.04.10

Six enterprising students from UCP Marjon took part in the recent Grand Finals of FLUX - an intense business challenge - which saw them compete against 33 teams from universities across the UK.

Developed by The Working Knowledge Group, nationally award winning experts in enterprise education, FLUX is a fantastic, fast-paced and fun competition for university students on any degree course, undergraduate or postgraduate, and of any age; indeed over 60% of students that take part in FLUX are studying subjects completely unrelated to business. FLUX is now in its fifth year and is the largest enterprise competition in UK higher education.

The students competing for UCP Marjon were: Amy Hurn, Cath Hough, Jaclyn Messer, James Stalker, Laura-May Burnett and Nicola Kate Ash. The team was organised and championed by Academic Enterprise Champion, Bob Pilbeam.

As part of the fast-paced, two-day competition, student teams used the enterprise tool XING to create a new division for Remploy, the national provider of employment to people experiencing barriers to work. Over 40 business experts, from companies such as KPMG, Experian, Backup Direct and a range of other large and small organisations, were on hand to guide the students.

Outdoor Adventure student James Stalker said  “the amount everyone got out from the event was staggering, We had all indentified weaknesses prior to the event however many of us overcame these, for example mine was presenting in front of large audiences. Being put on the spot I feel I managed to excel my own expectations and worked to the best of my ability!”

UCP Marjon won a closely fought heat to go through to the competition finals, where they had just five minutes to pitch their strategy to the business experts – who went from consultants in the day to ‘dragons’ in the evening.  The University of Bedfordshire made it through the heats and finals to come out as eventual winners.

Bob Pilbeam said of the team “the six students attending Flux 500 maintained the reputation of UCP Marjon teams in recent years in business competitions, by winning through to the final four of this national university sector competition. Business experts judging the competition praised the team for the clarity of their proposals, the excellent team work and their intelligent approach to deriving the best from the business experts throughout the two day competition.”

The final day of FLUX included the ‘Expo’ - a careers fair for students to meet with the organisations behind the experts, many of whom had spent the previous days spotting talent for specific roles.  Students were also able to reflect on the previous few days in workshops and mentor sessions whilst considering what direction they might take beyond University. 

Image from left to right: Nicola Ash, Amy Hurn, Bob Pilbeam, Cath Hough, Jaclyn Messer and James Stalker

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